Good Fences Good Neighbours Make?
Every since the destruction of the Berlin Wall was built to stop East Berliners from escaping into West Berlin, other nations have been busy building walls between themselves. The United States is building one of the largest along its southern border with Mexico, to stop the movement of ‘wetbacks’ or illegal immigrants northwards. This fence is widely criticised.
Of course, among journalists the most vilified nation building a fence has been the Israeli fence designed to keep Palestinians out of Jerusalem. Activists, including Israeli leftists have staged violent protests against the barrier that has stopped suicide bombers from entering city malls.
I am wondering if these same activists will protest against China’s action on its border with North Korea. China has been building a massive barbed wire and concrete fence along parts of its border with North Korea. Soldiers have erected concrete barriers 8 to 15 feet tall and strung barbed wire between them. Last week they reached Hushan, a collection of villages 12 miles inland from the border port of Dandong. The fence-building appears to have picked up in the days following North Korea’s claimed nuclear test last week.
The fence marks a noticeable change in China’s approach to North Korea. In the decades following their shared fight against U.S.-led U.N. forces in the Korean War, China left their border lightly guarded, deploying most of its forces in the northeast toward its enemy, the Soviet Union. But the border became a security concern for Beijing in the past decade, as North Korea’s economy collapsed and social order crumbled in some places. Tens of thousands of refugees began tracking across the border into northeast China.
Fences attract criticism when built in Israel and in USA, but critics are silent on the issue of North Korea and China. Perhaps we should ask, “When is a fence not a fence?”
GORDON MOYES
October 19th, 2006 at 2:11 pm
I know that a lot of people in the US call undocumented Latino immigrants ‘wetbacks’, but it’s hardly an interchangeable term for ‘illegal immigrant’. It shouldn’t be used at all, as it’s actually a fairly offensive slur used against Latinos whatever their status.